Degermination process



Feb; 13, 1940. c. R. BROWN 2,190,095

DEGERMINATION PROCESS Filed Apfil 22. 1936 INVENTOIL Patented Feb. 13, 1940 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DEGERMINATION mocnss Charles R. Brown, Champaign, Ill., asslgnor to The Sharples Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa", a corporation of Delaware Application April 22, 1936, Serial No. 75,730

7 Claims. (01. 83-42) The present invention pertains to degermina- In distillery operations itis customary to utilize tion of grains and particularly of corn. It is the whole grain and no attempt at preliminary concerned with the performance of a sequence of separation of germ from other grain particles is steps by which the germ of the grain and partiordinarily made prior to the cooking of the grain cles other than the germ can be treated to effect particles as the first step in the liquor manufac- 5 a desired conditioning of said other particles and turing operation. Neither the wet degermination separation of the germ in a form in which its oil process first described above nor the dry degercan be economically removed with a high degree mination process just described has been adapted of efficiency. It is particularly concerned with to a process of making whiskey, for example.

10 a process of this character in which the particles The wet degermination is unsatisfactory, asstat- 1 of the grain other than the germ are obtained in ed above, because of bacterial contamination or a form in which they may be used in the cooking undesired flavor of preservatives added incident operation preliminary to the preparation of tothe steeping, and the dry degermination procspirituous liquors of high quality. ess is unsatisfactory because of the inadequate In the conventional process of preparing starch, separation of germ from other grain particles and the whole grain is firststeeped for a period varythe lower yield of germ obtained in connection ing between three and ten days in order to soften with such degermination.

thoroughly the particles of grain surrounding the The object of the present invention has been germ. At the conclusion of the steeping period, to devise a process of treatment of grain such the germ is removed from the grain by flotation as corn by which the grain may be degerminated 20 in a body of aqueous starch liquid and treated with a high degree of emciency and the particles separately from the grain. The hulls and starchy of grain other than germ be utilized emciently matter are first ground and then passed through in the manufacture of spirituous liquors. The a preliminary separating step in which fibrous manner in which this object and other objects of material is removed by means of screens, and the the invention are attained will be understood starch is produced from the liquor which passes best by reference to the attached flow-sheet in through such screens. While such a process is which, satisfactory for the preparation of starch, it can- The single figure represents the steps of a not be employed in the treatment of grain which steeping and degerminating operation performed is to be used for the preparation of spirituous in accordance with the principle of the invention. .0

liquor because of bacterial contamination which Referring to the drawing by reference charoccurs during the long steeping period or because acters, the grain is first introduced into a steepof the undesired flavor imparted by preservaing tank l0 and a vacuum is thereafter applied tives used to prevent such bacterial contaminato the tank. steeping liquor maybe added prior tlon. to the application of vacuum, but the preferred 3 In the manufacture o rits a d co -me a form of practice of the invention involves the so-called dry degerminating process is used. In application of vacuum to the grain prior to the the practice of such a process, the corn is first introduction of steeping liquor. After the intropassed through a cracking mill. This cracking ductlon of the grain, the tank is closed and the r mill breaks up the particles of corn surrounding grain is subjected to a vacuum which is as high 40 the germ but it also breaks up the germ itself as can conveniently be maintained, such for into a substantial extent. At the conclusion of the stance as 28" or 29" of mercury. The grain is cracking operation, the cracked grain is subjectthus subjected to the action of the vacuum for ed to a succession of screening and aspirating a period of time sufliclent to remove the air operations designed to effect a certain degree of present in the cells of the grain, usually about 45 separation between germ particles and grits parthirty minutes. ticles. Such an operation yields a grits fraction After the grain has been de-aerated to the decontaininga much smaller proportion of germs sired deg it is covered with Waterthe than that contained in the original grain on the grain has been covered with water, the interior one hand, andit'yields on the other hand agerm of the steeping tank is vented to the atmosphere, 50 fraction containing a larger proportion of germs the tie-aerated grain being thus subjected to the than that contained in the original grain. The atmospheric pressure plus. pressure due to the separation of grits from germs in such an operahead of the water. The eflfect of this sequence tion cannot, however, be considered in any sense of operations is to. force the water into the deeffici nt. aerated grain. By reason of the de-aeratlon prior 55 to the steeping operation, it is possible to soften the grain to the desired extent in the steeping step in a period varying between three and twelve hours, as contrasted with the period of three to' ten days required in the prior practice.

In the practice of the present invention, the

respective specific gravities of the materials obtained by cracking the steeped grain are such as to render the practice of the prior art wet degerminating process exceedingly diflicult. The problem of eifecting a separation of germ from other grain particles can be solved by the process of my prior application Serial No. 49,494, filed November 13, 1935, entitled "steeping and degerminating process. The process of that application, however, is relatively expensive and involved, and a result as good as that achieved by the prior process is achieved in the practice of the present invention 'much more simply and 0 economically.

In the illustrated embodiment of the practice of the present invention the grain steeped in receptacle i8 is first passed to a screen I I through which the major part of its water is drained and removed. The partially dried grain is then passed to a dry cracking mill 12 which is designed to perform a rough cracking operation upon the particles of grain surrounding the germ without breaking the germ particles. The

cracked grain from the mill I2 is next subiected to a series of screening and aspirating operations of a type known per se in the artof dry degermination but not, so far as I am aware, heretofore practiced in the art of separating germs from other grain particles obtained by the vacuum steeping process described a ve.

The fiow sheet illustrates one example of a sequence of screening and aspirating steps constituting steps of the process of the present invention following the cracking operation inthe mill l2. In this fiow sheet, the material from the mill i2 is first passed to a'screen 13 which may be provided with square perforations with 4.5 sides having lengths of thsineh each. The bulk of the starchy constituents of the grain and the germ particles pass through the screen ii to a ten mesh screen ll. Uncracked grains and imperfectly cracked grains and large hull particles pass from the screen I! as tailings to an aspirator 15. This aspirator eflects separation of a large part of the hulls from other grain particles by sucking hulls upwardly and the particles not sucked upwardly are returned to the cracking operation. The hulls sucked upwardly by the aspirator II are passed ultimately to the cookers of the distillery process in a manner to be described hereinafter.

The screen ll allows starchy particles to pass 5 therethrough, but passes germ particles and larger particles of grain as tailings to the aspirator ll. This aspirator Ii sucks hull particles upwardly and allows germs and the bulk of the starchy ingredients passing as tailings from the screen 'll to drop to a dryer 11. The material passed to the dryer I1 is subiecttd to a drying operation in which its moisture con--' 4 tent is reduced to 25%. The material from the dryer i1 is next passed to a screen II which may be provided with round perforations having diameters of ths inch. The drying of the material in the dryer l1 eifects a shrinkage of the 'germs subjected to the drying operation and these germs pass through the screen l8 to a six mesh screen it. The tailings from the screen It may be returned to the cracking operation as illustrated.

The screen l9 allows fine particles to pass therethrough and the tailings from this screen. consisting of germs and large grain particles 5 pass'to the aspirator 20. This aspirator sucks hulls upwardly and allows the germs and other grain particles to pass downwardly. The particles passed through the screen l9 are subjected to a further screening operation upon the screen 10 2|. The tailings from the screen 2| are passed to an aspirator 22 which efiects a separation between hulls and other constituents of the grain similar to the separating function of the aspirators described above. The heavier constituents 15 consisting of germs and other grain particles which drop downwardly from the aspirators 20 and 22 are passed to separate double roller mills 23 and 28. These roller mills are designed to eflect a cracking operation upon grain particles 20 other than germs passing therethrough and to flatten the germs without cracking them. The rolls of the mill 28 are spaced together more closely than are the rolls of the mill 23.

The material which passes through the rolls 25 23 is subjected to a further screening operation by the screen 24 and the tailings from this screen are subjected to a. further aspirating operation by the aspirator 25. The material passing through the screen 24 is subjectedto a furso ther screening operation by the screen 26 and to a further aspirating operation by the aspirator 21.

Material passing downwardly from the aspirator 21 is passed, together with similar material-35 from the aspirator 22, through the double roller mill 2! and thence to screen 29. The tailings fromthe screen 28 are further aspirated at 30. The germ particles separated from other constituents of the grain in aspirators 25 and 30 40 pass to a dryer 32 and thence to an oil recovery operation. {is illustrated, this operation is performed by an expeller press 33. The cake from the eneller press is passed through a breaker 34 and thence through a mill 3|. Grain parti- 45 cles sucked upwardly by the aspirators IS, IS, 20, 22, 25, 21, and 3 are passed with the expeller cake through the mill 3| and thence to the cookers employed in the further processing of these particles to produce alcoholic products. so The fine material passing through the screens l4, 2|, 26 and 29 is likewise passed to the cookers.

It will be seen that the practice of the invention involves an eflicient separation of germs from other constituents of the grain and that q the vegetable oil may accordingly be separated irom the germs. Since the cake from the expeller press as well as the grain particles sep- 1 arated upwardly by the aspirators ispassed to the cookers, no material useful to the alcohol manufacturing operation is lost. The net result of the practice of the process is therefore to obtain extraction of the vegetable oil from-the germs of the grain without any corresponding loss. 68

Modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art and I do not therefore wish to be limited except by the scope of the sub-joined claims.

I claim: I

l. The process of treating germ-containing 7o grain which comprises placing the grain in a container, removing air from said container to create a substantial vacuum within the interstices of said grain, covering the grain with a steeping liquid,'subjecting this liquid to atmospheric pressure and thereby increasing the pressure under which the grain is maintained, subjecting the grain to the steeping efiect of the liquid for a number of hours, the degree of the vacuum, the pressure subsequently applied, and the duration of the steeping being so inter-related as to efiect thorough softening of the starch constituents of the grain without extracting a large proportion of the material contained in the germs, so that the germs retain many of their,

ingredients which have relatively high specific gravity and the starch-containing traction of the grain remains substantially free of bacterial contamination. disintegrating the starch by cracking the outer constituents of the steeped grain without cracking the germs and finally separating cracked grain particles from germs by a sequence of screening and aspirating operations.

2. The process of treating germ-containing grain which comprises placing the grain in a container, removing air from said container to create a substantial vacuum' within the interstices of said grain, covering the grain with a steeping liquid, subjecting this liquid to atmospheric pressure and thereby increasing the pressure under which the grain is maintained, subjecting the grain to the steeping effect of the liquid for a period of time between approximately three and twelve hours, the degree of the vacuum,

the pressure subsequently applied, and the duration of the steeping being so inter-related as to effect thorough softening of the starch constituents of the grain without extracting a large proportion of the material contained in the germs, so that the germs retain many of their ingredients which have relatively high specific gravity and the starch-containing fraction of the grain remains substantially free of bacterial contamination, disintegrating the starch by cracking the outer constituents of the steeped grain without cracking the germs and finally separating cracked grain particles from germs by a sequence of screening and aspirating opera ,three and twelve hours, the degree of the vacuum, the pressure subsequently applied, and the duration of the steeping being so inter-related as to effect thorough softening of the starch constituents of the grain without extracting a large proportion of the material contained in the germs, so that the germs retain many of their ingredients which have relatively high specific gravity and the starch-containing fraction of the grain remains substantially free of bacterial contamination, disintegrating the starch by cracking the outer constituents of the steeped grain without cracking the germs, separating cracked grain particles from germs by a sequence of screening and aspirating operations, subjecting the germs and contaminating grain particles after said sequence of said screening and aspirating operations to the application of pressure between rollers to eiIect breaking of grain particles other than germs and fiattening of germs, and

finally subjecting materials passed through said period of time between approximately three and twelve hours, the degree of the vacuum, the pressure subsequently applied, and the duration of the steeping being so inter-related as to effect thorough softening of the starch constituents of the grain without extracting a large proportion of the material contained in the'germs, so that the germs retain many of their ingredients which have relatively high specific gravity and the starch-containing fraction of the grain remains substantially free of bacterial contamination,

disintegrating the starch by cracking theouterconstituents of the steeped grain without cracking the germs, separating cracked grain particles from germs by a sequence of screening and aspirating operations, subjecting the germs and contaminating grain particles after said sequence of said screening and aspirating operations to the application of pressure between rollers to efiect breaking of grain particles other than germs and flattening of germs, and finally subjecting materials passed through said rollers to a further aspirating operation,

5. The process of treating germ-containing grain which comprises placing the grain in a container, removing air from said container to create a substantial vacuum within the interstices of said grain, covering the grain with a steeping liquid, subjecting this liquid to atmospheric pressure and thereby increasing the pres sure under which the grain is maintained, subjecting the grain to the steeping effect of the liquid for a'period of time between'approximately three and twelve hours, the degree of the vacuum, the pressure subsequently applied, and the duration of the steeping being so inter-related as to effect thorough softening of the starch constituents of the grain without extracting a large proportion of the material contained in the germs, so that the germs retain many of their ingredients which have relatively high specific gravity and the starch-containing fraction of the grain remains substantially free of bacterial contamination, disintegrating the starch by cracking the outer constituents of the steeped grain without cracking the germs, separating cracked grain particles from germs by a sequence of screening and aspirating operations, subject-v ing the germs and contaminating grain particles after said sequence of said screening and aspirating operations to the application of pressure between rollers to eifect breaking of grain particles other than germs and flattening of germs, and finally subjecting materials passed through" said rollers to afurther sequence of screening and aspirating operations.

6. The process of treating germ-containing grain which comprises placing the grain in a container, removing air from said container to create a substantial vacuum within the interstices of said grain, coveringthe grain with a steeping liquid, subjecting this liquid to atmospheric pressure and thereby increasing the pressure under which the grain is maintained, subjecting the grain to the steeping eflect of the liquid for a period of time between approximately three and twelve hours, the degree of the vacuum, the pressure subsequently applied, and the duration of the steeping being so inter-related as to effect thorough softening of the starch constituents of the grain without extracting a large proportion of the material contained in the germs, so that the germs retain many of their ingredients which have relatively high specific gravity and the starch-containing fraction of the grain remains substantially free of bacterial contamination, disintegrating the starch by cracking the outer constituents of the steeped grain 'without cracking the germs, separating cracked grain particles from germs by a sequence of screening and aspirating operations, expelling moisture from the germ. particles together with other grain particles separated with the germ particles insaid last-mentioned sequence of screening and aspirating operations, and thereafter subjecting said germ particles and other grain particles to a further sequence of screening and aspirating operations.

7.- The process of treating germ-containing grain which comprises placingthe grain in a container, removing air from said container to create a substantial vacuum within the interstices of said grain, covering the grain with a steeping liquid, subjectng this liquid to a pres- I sure sufllcient to cause the steeping liquid to penetrate the grain, subjecting the grain to the steeping efiect of the liquid for a period of time between approximately three and twelve hours, the degree of the vacuum, the pressure subsequently applied, and the duration of the steeping being so inter-related as to efiect thorough softening of the starch constituents of the grain without extracting a large proportion of the material contained in the germs, so that the germs retain many of their ingredients which have relatively high specific gravity and the starch-containing fraction of the grain remains substantially free of bacterial contamination, disintegrating the starch by cracking the outer constituents of the steeped grain without cracking the germs and finally separating cracked grain particles from germs by a sequence of screening and aspirating operations.

CHARLES R. BROWN. 

